I do not quite know what is going on with Rosa Racer. This is a firm which has been promoting itself in the press recently as some kind of a 'green' messiah because they say they assemble bicycles in Walthamstow from bits made abroad. Apparently they should get a medal for this, not because someone local is being kept off the dole (there is no evidence for this), but because they are an 'eco' business. You apparently qualify as 'green' these days merely for not being from China, by the way.

Rosa Racer do not actually make very much of their bike in the UK, let alone in Studio 17 in the Hilton Business centre in Hatherley Mews in Walthamstow.

The frames are brought in from Italy, for instance. By sea. (We are not told whose ships are used, or how they are made). The frames are made there from 'recycled Italian steel', by 'Italian craftsmen'. Then they're shipped to the UK and put together by a chap called Diego Lombardi. I am not sure what 'recycled Italian steel' actually is by the way. Is it steel that was originally made in Italy and then recycled, or is it any old steel, possibly brought in from China or America, which happens to have found its way to Italy - where it then just happens to be recycled. I do not know.

The tubing is branded 'Columbus' or 'Dedacciai', a source of steel which seems to sell quite well, even in the USA. The company websites do not seem to mention that their steel is recycled but I suppose we have to bow to Mr Lombardi's insider knowledge. Interestingly, Columbus do tell us that their latest steel, XCr, was originally designed by the company at the request of and in conjunction with the Italian armaments industry to be a new martensitic stainless steel with a high content of Chromium and Molybdenum and Nickel as alloy elements, to increase the mechanical and weldability characteristics. Which weapons system the alloy was designed to go into is presumably a state secret, but whatever, let's call it 'green' just for the hell of it. Everyone else is these days. I probably wouldn't care about any of this, by the way, if it were not for some of the comments Mr Lombardi has made about other countries' and manufacturers' products in order to promote his own.

Mr Lombardi's bikes, you see, are all supposed to be so much more ethical and environmentally friendly. This is according to the guy helping them with their self promotion in the Guardian, a writer called Simon Munk. Mr Lombardi, is quoted as saying that despite his claims to be greener than thou, he can't source frames in the UK for some reason, notwithstanding the fact that several other British bike makers build their frames in the UK. "We would love to do everything here," says Lombardi. "But we cannot find British-sourced steel or reliable frame makers."

My bullshit-o-meter has gone off the scale. What Mr Lombardi means is, he doesn't want to source his frames in the UK. This may not even be on grounds of cost or quality but simply because he is an outlet for his Italian business partners, who are probably his relatives given the fact that he buys his frames from a firm called 'Lombardi Biciclette'. What we have here is a man using the pretence of being 'green' to spin us a line and flog off an Italian product made by his relatives.

I am willing to speculate that Mr Lombardi has no intention whatsoever of ever making his products with wholly British sourced bits. Why would he? The family business has been building frames in Italy for over 60 years.

I have nothing against Mr Lombardi being an Italian nationalist by the way. What I object to is his nonsense. To justify his refusal to contribute to the British economy by buying a British made frame he claims that these are made using American steel, as if there is also something inherently wrong with American steel. 'Britain's big bike tube maker, Reynolds, sources 'some steel' from America', Mr Lombardi is quoted in the Guardian article. True or not, that is no reason per se for me to buy an Italian bike.

Having slagged off the Chinese (an estimated 95% of bikes sold are produced in Taiwan or China, which must, without any explanation be a Bad Thing'), the British and the Americans, Mr Lombardi admits to sourcing his tyres in Taiwan. The mutinational Mr Lombardi then has the cheek to claim "Multinational bike companies are like McDonalds. They produce disposable products for maximum profit."

Now I will slag off McDonald's with the best of them, but are we being spun a line when told this is an eco-friendly family business? Is Mr Lombardi really just in business selling remarkably over-priced bicycles from abroad (a new one costs a grand), while claiming to be 'greener than the rest'?

13 Comments to Rosa Racer

Sorry, but IMHO this is a nastily biased and rather unfair reading of my piece in The Guardian.

1. Diego's stated problems with making the bike in Britain are twofold:
a) Lack of quality silver-fillet-brazing welders - now I don't buy this one myself
b) Lack of ability to source good-quality steel bike frame tubes that don't use a large proportion of steel sourced from outside the EU - thus driving up carbon costs by miles travelled.
The latter does hold some water - the major UK manufacturer of steel tubing sources materials from all over, including the US. And the Italian steel company Diego uses sources local scrap steel that hasn't been sent in from elsewhere.

2. "Having slagged off the Chinese... Mr Lombardi admits to sourcing his tyres in Taiwan". Diego lists publicly where he sources stuff from - something most bike manufacturers don't. He says it's nigh on impossible to source most tyres from even supposedly "European" manufacturers that aren't made in the far east. He reckons about 10 per cent or less of the parts/frame etc. of the bikes he makes come from outside the EU - and that's largely the tyres. Compare that to just about every other bike manufacturer - from British niche hand builders to huge multinationals. And why is Taiwanese or Chinese manufacturer a bad thing? Because, fairly obvious, it means frames and components travelling further to us = arguably greater carbon costs in fuel. And it means laxer labour and environmental controls, with many factories in the far east still suffering issues to do with industrial pollution, low wages and long hours etc. That's not the case for all bike frame and part manufacturers in the far east for sure, but it is for many.

3. I think it's fair enough to question the end price; to question exactly how environmentally sound the thinking is of niche steel frame builds in Italy versus, say, aluminium mass market frames in Taiwan (I'd dearly love to see a breakdown of carbon costs taking into account the two different shipping styles etc.); to question how environmentally-friendly buying any new bike is etc. But I don't think you're really doing that - you're just being a bit snarky and making some suppositions and accusations on the basis that you feel like having a pop. "What we have here is a man using the pretence of being 'green' to spin us a line and flog off an Italian product made by his relatives." Erm, what basis really do you have for that one? Not a huge amount.

Thanks for dropping by. I appreciate you might think I am being a bit mean, but I go by the principal that 'he who asserts must prove'. He is claiming to be greener than the rest, so it is really up to him to prove that is so. He claims that he wants to source his materials in the UK, so what evidence is there that he has even attempted to? Just his word, but as I note, his business plan is based on selling Italian bits sourced exclusively from Lombardi Biciclette, so something tells me it is not likely that there is any sincerity in what he says about ever intending to buy British.

The claims regarding the sources of the steel his suppliers use is interesting, but I do wonder why the manufacturers themselves do not seem to have bothered to make these claims about recycling. We only seem to have Diego's word to you for it that they recycle anything.

Did you come across anything to support his assertions in the course of your researches for your piece? For instance, how much steel is recycled by the two tube brands Lombardi Biciclette uses? How much of that orininated in a) Italy, b) USA, c) the UK?

When making comparisons and claims, I suppose one would have to know how much American steel is there in the steel used by the British rivals? How much British steel or Italian steel for that matter?

As for Chinese factories automatically being bad, I regret to say that I do not automatically share your prejudice and would require evidence. I say this because I have been to China quite a lot over the last few years and am aware that in technological terms I have seen instances where they are streets ahead of us when they build new facilities. It is when we look at older factories (such as somewhere many years old which might be under-capitalised because its a family business) that the serious damage is being usually done to the environment. Did Diego show you any figures?

And of course, China is a long way away, but a six week voyage from the Med does not seem very efficient to me - are the Italian bikes coming in rust buckets or do they get transported in somethings as clean cost-effective and efficient as many of the vessels in the modern Taiwanese container fleet?

In my opinion, when it comes to greener-than-thou issues, the bull***t factor can reach dizzy heights. I suppose if you can pitch your markteting so that you mouth all the right green pieties but, at the same time, sprinkle them with a little bit of 'brand Italia' for a that extra lifestyle factor...bingo. Perfect for Guardian readers.

"Did you come across anything to support his assertions in the course of your researches for your piece? For instance, how much steel is recycled by the two tube brands Lombardi Biciclette uses? How much of that orininated in a) Italy, b) USA, c) the UK?"

I saw documentation for one of the tube brands - and for that 100 per cent comes from steel produced in Italy from recycled material sourced in Italy.

"I suppose one would have to know how much American steel is there in the steel used by the British rivals? How much British steel or Italian steel for that matter?"

Certainly a significant amount of US steel - as I checked with Reynolds.

"As for Chinese factories automatically being bad, I regret to say that I do not automatically share your prejudice and would require evidence."

I'm not saying all are by any means. But there is ample evidence of problematic manufacture in the far east, including in bicycle and parts manufacture. Although many produce in state-of-the-art facilities, true.

"a six week voyage from the Med does not seem very efficient to me - are the Italian bikes coming in rust buckets or do they get transported in somethings as clean cost-effective and efficient as many of the vessels in the modern Taiwanese container fleet?"

Six weeks is not the voyage length. It's the total time from you being measured to bike in your hands. That's hardly the same now. And while I have no data on exactly the condition of the ships Diego uses, your slanted and overly-biased assertion the other way has no basis in fact.

Thanks Simon. Could you recall which of the Italian brands it was which you saw the documents about which said it was 100% recycled? I ask this because when I tried to find out about these brands neither of them mentioned recycling on their own websites as far as I could tell.

As for Reynolds using a 'significant' amout of US steel, could you let us know what you feel is a significant amount? I am presuming they also use a 'significant' amount of British steel, which should presumbly be 'greener' than transporting bits from italy, depending on how these things are measured.

The Chinese steel issue is an interesting one, of course, as I am aware that a huge amount of british and American steel ends up in China specifically to be recycled.

I appreciate that you are holding a torch for Mr Lombardi and don't want him to be unfairly questioned about his commercial activities in our borough, but do please understand that he is the one who decided to be negative, making his pitch for the 'green market' is OK I suppose, but he included in his pitch attacks on British and other rivals on environmental grounds, which were not supported by anything other than lazy assertions.

Incidentally, did you happen to notice how many local people he has employed in his business?

I wish I could, but I can't. I'm sure you could email Racer Rosa if you wanted. As to Reynolds and what constitutes "significant" - you'd have to ask Reynolds for more exact figures (and they didn't give them to me). What they did say is that they use US-sourced steel specifically in cycle tubing because it fits with the mix of materials that gives the tubes the properties they want. Ergo it's not an insignificant amount.

> I appreciate that you are holding a torch for Mr
> Lombardi and don't want him to be unfairly questioned
> about his commercial activities in our borough

I'm hardly "holding a torch". You attacked an article I wrote, and I'm disputing both your take on the facts and your tone. Using such an assumptive and over-opinionated phrase is exactly the kind of phrase I find very annoying with this blog, and your original post in particular.

You seem very happy to ask me very detailed and specific questions on, for instance, percentages of steel. But you also seem very happy to throw out very unfactual assertions/ opinions that have no weight in anything. You can't really have it both ways.

> he is the one who decided to be negative, making his
> pitch for the 'green market' is OK I suppose, but he
> included in his pitch attacks on British and other
> rivals on environmental grounds, which were not
> supported by anything other than lazy assertions.

Again, a) your lazy assertions are OK apparently, his are not? b) I don't think he made lazy assertions - he clearly stated his point of view on why they source from where they do. There were some very florid opinions (the multinational quote for instance). And some of the choices he made are open to question, certainly (exactly how the carbon tonnage stacks up in mass producing and transporting alu frames versus niche steel, or yes, what exact proportions of US/British versus Italian steel are required to make one more environmentally-friendly than the other etc. etc.). But that's not what you're doing here - instead you're spouting a lot of hot air for no, as far as I can see, real reason. Other than perhaps you like doing so.

> Incidentally, did you happen to notice how many local
> people he has employed in his business?

Again, this is the kind of over-opinionated aside that you seem to specialise in. He directly employs himself and that's about it as far as I could see. His mrs (a local) does some work on the business. Some freelance mechanics help him out from time to time (I'm guessing they'd have to be fairly local). And he has an ethical researcher - no idea where they're based. Then he has a frame buider in Italy. Is that your point? Or what exactly is your point here? That he should, if he's making green claims, be making his frames on site, from steel sourced from east London skips?

Thanks for coming back and puttng forward your point of view. The asides on this site do contain opinions, I agree. That is the point of a blog. I do not expect total agreement with anything said here.

Sometimes the 'technomist' voice stimulates debate about things which interest people locally. I rarely remove comments people make in reply, even critical ones, and as there are a fair few people reading here (three or four thousand different people a month look in, depending on the topics), it seems to be appreciated by a few people. Sometimes I get things wrong, I know, and am always happy to correct thngs when some evidence comes to light or draw peoples' attention to diffferent points of view. I have even changed my mind from time to time, though like most humans I tend to do this over time rather than as a result of a blinding revelation.

I could emulate the bland style of some of the other other local media outlets I suppose, such as the stuff pumped out by the council, but then, who would read it? More to the point, it would only tell a fraction of the story of our neighbourhood and might bore me.